Superbowl champion and four-time Pro Bowler Richard Sherman is a big fan of cryptocurrency, having been in the game for years. He isn’t such a big fan of fees, though.
‘Skimming off the Top’
NFL defensive star Richard Sherman by no means bandwagon-ed into cryptocurrency. He actually got involved in digital currencies in 2014, when we started accepting Bitcoin payments for official merchandise. He’s also invested in Ethereum and Litecoin — which he claims have made him “a decent chunk of money” last year.
Sherman doesn’t like how exchanges and cryptocurrency marketplaces eat into that “decent chunk of money” by skimming exorbitant fees off the top. He explained to Money:
Every time you make a trade, there’s fee. Skimming off the top. A lot of people don’t realize until you make 10 transactions in a day. You’re like ‘Why am I $200, $300, $400 less? They charge you out the yin-yang, and it limits what you thought you’d be able to do. You don’t want to do that many transactions because you’ll get hit over the head.
Sherman’s got a point.
Leading cryptocurrency marketplace Coinbase charges US customers 1.49 percent for both payments from and payouts to their on-site USD wallet. All trades on popular exchange Bittrex have a 0.25% commission, while Binance records a 0.1% trading fee. When making multiple trades per day, these fees can certainly add up.
Sherman’s distaste for fees has led him to endorse cryptocurrency exchange Cobinhood, a Taiwan-based company with no-fee trading.
Do Your Own Research
Sherman may be a knowledgable cryptocurrency investor himself, but don’t go looking for him to dole out any investment advice. He explained to Money:
I have a hard enough time dealing with my finances. I don’t want people coming on my social media saying ‘You told me to do this!’
Additionally, Sherman knows that — no matter how much research you do — investing in cryptocurrency does not guarantee success. It’s important to do your own research, but also to never invest more than you’re willing to lose. Says Sherman:
Knowing when to sell, knowing when to sit, knowing when to huddle. No matter how much research you do, just like with stocks and bonds, you can never predict [what it will do]. People say they can predict it, but if you could predict everything, there’d be more billionaires in the world.
What do you think about trading fees? Do you agree with Sherman that trading fees are too high? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, Shutterstock
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